Shuttle eye and process of making the same



y 28 1231. L. c. BALbwm 1,8 6, 61

SHUTTLE EYE AND PROCESS OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Feb. 15, 1928 Patented July 28, 1931 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LUTHER'G. BALDWIN, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- .1VIENTS, TO U S BOBBIN & SHUTTLE COMPANY, 1929, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION OF RHODE ISLAND SHUTTLE EYnAnnrnocEss or MAKING THE SAM-E 7 Application filed February 15, 1928. Serial No. 254,434.

This invention pertains to loom shuttles and relates more particularly to a shuttle eye and to a process of'making the same. In its broader aspects the invention is applicable to shuttle eyes of any usual type but in certain of its more limited aspects is particularly applicable to self-threading shuttle eyes such as are employed in automatic filling replenishing looms. I

a I prefer to'make my improved shuttle eye of sheet material and as a first step in the 'process,I stamp, punchor otherwise prepare a blankof suitable size and configuration, preferably of sheetsteel. I then bend this blank at predetermined points, conveniently by the use of dies, thus producing a one-piece eye having substantially all of its essential parts integrally united. Either a right or left-hand eye may be made from the same blank by bending the blank in the appropriate direction. If made of sheet steel, I deem it desirable to case harden the metal, either before or after bending, preferablyafter bending. Incase hardening, I prefer tostop the hardening action before it has extended through the entire thickness of the metal and thus, although the outer surfaces and edges may be glass hard and very resistant to wear by the yarn, the central unhardened layer of metal provides the desired toughness and strength and prevents fracture. Preferably before hardening, the eye or the blank is subjected to a tumbling operation which smooths and slightly rounds the edges and corners, thus dispensing with the usual diflicult operation of smoothing and finishing the eye. The sheet metal eye thus formed providesjample space between.

its side walls for any desired or usual form of tension device and may be furnished with such additional thread-guiding elements, for example, wear-resistant posts, as maybe desired. According to one arrangement, a block of metal or the like is disposed between the side walls of the sheet metal eye and this block supports the tension means and holds the side walls in rigidly spaced relation. Preferably the opposite side walls of the eye are of substantially the same height and each well is provided, preferably near its rear end, with an inwardly and downwardly directed yarn retainer. These retainers are rigidly spaced apart to permit easy passage of the yarn in threading the shuttle, but are so shaped as substantially to prevent unthreading. These retainers are complementary and adapted respectively to prevent escape of a yarn by ballooning, whether Wound either right or left hand on the bobbin. In order certainly to prevent hard or wiry yarn from throwing itself out of the eye under the action of momentum, these retainers have concave surfaces providing forwardly directed horns and I prefer to employ retainers of fish-tail contour similar to the single retainer shown in the application of Daniel OHara, Serial No.

243,590, filed December 30, 1927, since re-' tainers of this type operate in either direction of movement of the shuttle.

' While the sheet metal construction above described lends itself very conveniently to the'production of this type of retainer, it is obvious that similar retainers may be embodied in shuttle eyes of other than sheet metal construction, and I regard such modifications as falling within the scope of my invention. By reason of the novel construction above outlined and hereinafter more fully described, the shuttle eye threads veryeasily and in accordance with the ideal sequence, that is to say, the thread enters the rear part of the eye before it enters the forward part, and although the thread enters the eye very easily, it is retained therein with certainty under all conditions, even though the thread be hard twist-ed or of wiry material, for example, rayon. The improved'eye is light in Weight, easy to apply to the shuttle body, durable, resistant to abrasion by the thread, and at the same time is cheap and easy to construct. I

In the accompanying drawings I have shown certain desirable embodiments of my invention by way of example as well as certain steps in the process of making the improved eye, and in the drawings:

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, to larger scale, of the improved eye removed from the shuttle;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation from the opposite sideof the eye; a

Fig.;4isfan end elevation of'th'e eye, looking forwardly from the bobbin cavity; Fig. 5 is an opposite end elevation; Fig? 6"is a section, substantially on the li'n e"6 6 of Fig 1,

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a blank employedin making the eye shown in Fig. 1;.

Fig. 8 is a plan Viewshowing a" modified construction of shuttle eye;

Fig. 9 is a section'to large scale of line 9-9 of Figp6'; and A m Fig. 10-is a section similar to Fig.9 but showing the result ofa later step inthe process t A Re'f'erring to Fig; 1, the numeral 1 indicates agshuttle body; of usual-construction having-the front end 2,-the bobbincavit-y 3 adapted to receive the bobbin 4-,; and the recess 5 for the reception of; the shuttleeye;

In this insta'n'cefla-lefthand shuttle is illustrate'd,-hav ing-its yarn delivery o'pening 'at the;. point,.6l

While I contemplate that certain features of my improved shuttle eye may be enibodied in eyes formed bycasting or similar processes,- I have here chosento illustrate my improved shuttle eye as of sheet metal construction; In accordance with a pre-, ferred mode of procedure,-I prefpare ablank 7, as shown inFi'g. 7, fromsheet material, for example, sheet steel: of; suitable gage, such blank being formed by stamping,

punching. ,or .0ther suitable process.- This blank comprises a portion 8 adapted to form the bottom wall of the shuttle eye, parts- 9 and 10; adapted to form the oppositejside walls of the shuttlejeye, and parts 1-1, 12- and 13 preferably integral. with the wall portion 9, T-hepar'ts 11 and 12 are adapted to constitute thread-guiding horns in the completed shuttle eye, while the partj'13 forms; a guide for directingtheyarn,dur-

ing the threading operation, into the eye 14; formedat the forward portion of the wallmember 9 The members 9 and 10 are furnished' with openings 15 and16 respectively for thereception of the bolt which secures thefeye inthe shuttle body.

The lateral edge 0f the Wall portion 10 of the blank is provided, preferably at its rear end, with an integral projection 17 a'n'd the wall portion 9 'is provided with a similar projection 18. Projections 17 and 18 are preferablyfurnished with concave forward edges 19 and 20 respectively, whose outer corners form forwardly directed'horns, and with concave rear edges 21 and 22 respectively, whose corners form rearwardly' directed horns. Theouter; ends of the projections 17 and 18 are preferably notched, as

shown at 23 and 24 respectively, thus giving the projections 17 and 18 a fish-tail contour. While the notches 23 and 24: are desirable, to facilitate bending of the parts, as hereinafter described, they are not necessary and the outer ends of the-projections 17 and 18 may,if desired, be substantially straight.

As the next step in the process, after the preparation'of the blank, as-"above described, a I prefer to finis'h-the'exposed edges of the blank in such a" manner as to make'th'em round and smooth, as indicated at 25 (Fig. 9), sothat-theywillnot 'cut or abrade the yarn. l/Vhile these edges 'may be rounded and finished in" any desired manner (even after substantial; completion of the eye), I find that desirable results may beobtained very cheaply, and yet satisfactorily, by tumbling the blanks with a suitable abra sive in a tumbling drum' of usual type.

While I prefer to tumble the blanks at-this stage" of the'operation, it is possibleto perform this step at a later" stage. The next step in the process consists in bending the blank so as tobringfthe wallp or tions 9"an d 10" into substantially parallel relation and perpendicular to the bottom wall 8. The

horns l1 and 12 are bent opposite direc-' tionsand properly curvedto give them the desired configuration as shown,- for example, in Figs. 4 and 5. 7 The projections l7and 18 are also bent to the shape and the relative positions shown in F ig. 4 and when the bend ing is completed theseprojecti ons 17 and-1's curve downwardly andinwardly, having concave under surfaces and having their free ends spaced apart to provide a permanently open guide channel 28 leading into the longitudinal yarn passage 29 defined by the walls 9 and lO. The channel 28 is widest-- at its upper part, gradually narrowing toward thepointwhere it: opens into passage 29, the shape of this channel being such that the yarn enters readily into the passage 29' 10 where the central portion 7 of the metal is relatively soft while the outer skin or layer 7 may be substantially glass hard. While I prefer to performthis case hardening operation after the blank has beenbent, it is possible, by reason of the tough and soft central core to perform the bending III) operation after the hardening, and I contemplate that this may be a desirable mode of procedure under some circumstances.

Afterthe bending operation I prefer to secure a diagonal yarn guide within the forward portion of the shuttle eye, theends of this guide being riveted or otherwise attached to the wall member 9 and the bottom member 8 respectively. This guide or post 30 may be of any suitableWear-resistant material adapted to guide the yarn on its way to the lateral eye 14," I also prefer to mount a rigid block 31 of wood or metal between the walls 9 and 10 at the rear portion of the shuttle eye, such block having a transverse opening 32 adapted tolalign with the openings 15 and 16 and to receive the usual bolt 33 by means of which the eye is secured in the shuttle body. This rigidblock 31 determines the distance between the walls 9 and '10 when the bolt 33 is tightened and thus determines the minimum width of the channel 28 leading into the thread passage.

The block 31 forms convenient means for supporting a yarn tension device, and I have herein shown this block as having a transverse slot in which a piece of felt 34 or other suitable friction material is mounted. This particular tension device forms no essential part of the present invention and is merely typical of any suitable tension which may be mounted within the open space between the walls 9 and 10. I

In Fig. 1, I have chosen to show the bobbin as reverse wound, that is to say, having its yarn so disposed that it unwinds from right to left when looking at the end of the bobbin. During the flight of the shuttle, the unwinding yarn tends to balloon in the direction indicated at Y in Fig. 4, and as indicated in the latter figure the concave retainer member 17 confines the yarn and tends to prevent the latter from escaping upwardly through the channel 28. In the same way, were the yarn wound upon'the bobbin with a normal wind, its ballooning action would take place in the direction of the arrow Y in Fig. 4 so that the retainer member 18 would tend to prevent the yarn from passing upwardly through the channel 28. I

After the bobbin has been mounted in the shuttle, the first pick of the shuttle to the left, as viewed in Fig. 1, causes the yarn to draw downwardly through the opening 28 and thence into the yarn passage 29, the yarn entering the passage 29 at the rear part of the latter before it has had time to pass llOWIl around the horn 11 and into the recess 5 at the forward tip of the shuttle. Upon the beginning of the first pick to the right, the yarn swings laterally from the recess 5 between the horn 11 and the forward part of the shuttle body, through the passage 35 into the delivery eye 6, the threading operation thus being complete.

yarn is reverse wound on the bobbin and the bobbin has just completed its pick to the right, the ballooning yarn, which has been more or less in contact with the under sur face of the retainer 17 tends to jump forwardly in the form of a loop Y and upon the next pick to the left this loop might possibly free itself from the shuttle eye were it not for the provision of the concave surface 21 on therear edge of the retainer 17 This surface with its horn-like extremity engages the yarn loop and prevents it from escaping from the eye. In the same way, at the opposite end of the shuttle path, a loop projecting in the other direction will be caught by the concave front surface 19 of the retainer 17. Likewise, with a normal wind, wherein the ballooning yarn is more or less confined by the retainer 18, the concavesurfaces 20and 22 of the latter prevent escape of a yarn loop formed at the opposite ends respectively of the shuttle path.

It is thus evident that my improved shuttle eye provides means for retaining the yarn, whether the bobbin be wound right or left, and whether the yarns loop forwardly or rearwardly. This shuttle eye is verylight in weight; it provides adequate space for any desired type of tension device; its surfaces are hard and wear-resistant and yet smooth so that they do not abrade the yarn; it is comparatively cheap to construct; it is rigid and durable; it is of self-threading character and so designed that the yarn first enters its rear end; and it may be made for either a right or left-hand shuttle merely by bending theblank in an appropriate manner.

In Fig. 8 I have shown a slight modification in which the shuttle eye has the parallel side walls 9 and 10, the projecting horn 11 and the retainer projections 17 and 18. In this instance, the projections 17 a and 18 are concave only on their forward edges. The device thus provided is adapted to retain a yarn loop Y extending in the direction shown in Fig. 8, but does not provide positive means for retaining a loop thrown in the opposite direction. While in Figs. 1 to 6 I have shown a shuttle eye pro-' vided with the lateral horn 12, I may, if desired, omit the horn as illustrated for example in Fig. '8. The' type of eye shown in Fig. 8 may be useful under certain conditions, but I prefer to employ that type of eye shown in the other views since the latter provides positive means for retaining the yarn both directions of movement of the shuttle. i

While I" have out'lineda series of steps constituting one desirable process of makingthe above shu'tt'leeyje, Iwish it to be under stood that the present invention is not necessarily limited' to this precise order of,

steps, and furthermore I it to be understood that the invent-ion is not necessarily confined to a shuttle eye having the cific proportions of parts here shown, or the particular arrangement of the less im; portant p'a'rts, orto the materials-hereinabove mentioned" as desirablev for' the purpose! o I claim:

1. A shuttle eye having spaced side walls providing a yarn passage'betw'een them and a yarn-retaining element projecting inward lyj from each,wall, each Ore-ma elementshaving forwardly 'andrearwardly directed.

retainers being adapted respectively to 00- operate with yarn from a right or left wound bobbin and to prevent the yarn from throwing itself out of the yarn passage movement in either a forward or, rearward direction.

3. self-threading shuttle eye comprising a piece of sheet material bent to provide: a bottom wall "spaced, substantially vertical side walls defining. a yarn passage between them, each side wall having an integral projection extending inwardly from its upper edge, said projections curving' dow1iwardly and being oppositely disposed and having their free ends permanently spaced apart thereby providing a downwardly tapering guide channel leading intothe yarn passage, the front and rear edges of each of said projections being concavely curved forengagement' with the yarn to. prevent the latter from throwing itseljf out ofthe passage in either a rearward or forward direct on.

s am? sheet material having integral portions constituting a "bottom wall and "spaced side; walls, one wall having portionsconstitut ing oppositely" dirct e cl'yarn-guiding hornsextending longitudinallyf relative to said bot-tom wall, one wallhaving'a lateral guide eye, and a diagonal yarn-guiding post of; wearresi'stant material uniting the bottom wall and that wall having the lateral guide eye. I r

6; A blank-for use in making shuttle eyes, said blank having portions shaped to form a bottom walla-nd-spaced side walls-for the shuttle eye, said blank also having horns,

tions adjacent to the rear ends ofthe latter, 1

said yarn retainer memberadapted to ex tend longitudinally in the completed eye.

8. A shuttle self-threading device ofsheet metal formed in one piece and provided at its rear end with two forwardly directed non-resilient horn like elements in close proximity directed from opposite sides of the threading slot, each of said elements" forming a similarly acting thread trap.

Signed by me at Providence, Rhode Island, this twenty-eighth day of January,

LUTHER C. BALDWIN.

LA shuttle eye comprisinga piece of sheet material haying integral portions constituting a bottom wall and spaced side walls, at least one wallhaying oppositely directed yarn-guiding horns extending longitudinally relative to said wall, said walls being spaced to provide .a yarn passage between them, and rigid means interposed between said walls to keep them in prep'e y spa e ation 5- A f littl r nipr ng. a iee f 

